


Happy Little Workers

by Kosei



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Existential Angst, Existential Crisis, Gen, Not very romancey, Post-Rockman X8 | Mega Man X8, Questioning, X/Zero is there if you squint, Y2K fashion, but its not the focus, reploid rights
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22374229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kosei/pseuds/Kosei
Summary: Everyone knows the purpose of reploids is- and always has been for the work of humans. After the Jakob Project Incident is remedied, the world of right and wrong created by X is flipped upside down.
Relationships: Implied X/Zero, Slight X/Zero, X/Zero (Rockman)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

“This is X, reporting from outside the Reploid R.E.V.O. Nightclub. There have been no suspicious activity outside the nightclub so far, or any maverick activity.”

“Axl is inside. He is at the side of the entrance point. Meet up with him and continue to watch for maverick activity.” Alia responded. 

“Affirmative. I’ll head out now.”

“Stay safe.”

X displaced his hand from his audio receptors, a bit of a habit to do even with the absence of his helmet. He could still communicate with Alia through the instant messaging inside his head, but it was more efficient to talk over comms. 

The nightclub Reploid R.E.V.O. or just simply R.E.V.O. is the first and unique out of any other kind of nightclub. Created especially for the use of reploids. Facilities such as this have been high in demand, after the creation of a new type of energy drinks that had been all the rage. D.F. Energy.  
D.F. stands for Disruptive Functioning which is exactly what the new kind of energy does. The first drink buzzes the neuron receptors and creates a pleasant feeling, but the consumption of too many interferes with work activity. 

It’s a bit of a hot-button topic, overall. Not just the implications of what a drunk reploid means- if they can get addicted, how it impedes functionality over time, etc. Use of the substance is restricted, but not banned. Humans aren’t necessarily upset- they aren’t banned from the establishment. But they have no reason to go inside.

However, reports did come about that suspicious Maverick activity was moving about the place. Secrets and dirty deals between reploids.

“My kinda specialty!” Axl had snarked.

Anyways, the Animaloids at the entrance gave him heated glares but X ignored them as he strolled through. From the outside, a neon yellow sign with a reploid in a suit and antennas sticking out from his helmet. Winking at the onlookers and passerby in the busy streets. The building was low compared to the tall skyscrapers of Abel City, but the electronic music playing from the outside thumped loudly.

It didn’t cease at all once inside- it was far louder actually. Not that he didn’t expect this, but he winced, holding a hand to his audio receptor, and feeling the brush of his hair.

X felt a little- scratch that, a lot out of place. Lots of humanoid reploids were wearing clothing. Which was very odd, most reploids didn’t bother with clothing at all. He only owned this outfit because of Cain. A lot of fashions, from what he saw, were resurgence from fashions over 200 years ago. When people theorized the world was like. When the internet was taking its baby steps and A.I. was not even conceived. Metallic clothing, shiny bright orange dresses that exposed the black of their bodysuit. Mesh shirts overlayed with leather jackets. Ripped shorts, colorful glasses, and neon-colored long-sleeved shirts. But all reploids, humanoid or animaloid wore large neon hoops that glowed in the dark around their necks and wrists. Only sources of lights coming from the stage, where the DJ was pumping everyone up, and the lights danced, spinning over the crowd when the music kicked up a notch. 

Someone passed by and suddenly he was holding one of the neon-colored loops in his hand. It glowed green and he slipped it onto his wrist. 

“Heyyy~!” someone yelled over the crowd. He gazed around and caught the flirtatious gaze of a beautiful reploid. Her synthetic hair was black and like silk, draped neatly around her shoulders. Her eyes narrowed and glinted blue. Red was smeared from the corner of her eye which made them pop excessively. Two gold pieces, like large decorative earrings, were her audio receptors. Her outfit was a red-metallic form-fitting dress, midriff exposed, the collar a giant hoop around the neck. She also wore a neon-colored necklace, yellow. And several on both wrists. She smiled, and suddenly it clicked who she was.

“Axl?”

“Yup!” he exclaimed and stretched. “Man oh man I haven’t used this data in a long time. I gotta say wearing heels-” he points down to his white and red gogo boots, “total pain. No wonder so many women hate them. But never mind that- what are you wearing?”

He looked down at his hoodie and jeans and swallowed, “I was only thinking about not being found out as-”

“Axl” shook his/her head. “Oh X, the thing about blending in is that its all in the outfit. You look too human-”

“What does that mean?”

“And look at me! I perfectly blend in, I look fabulous even-”

“By the way, where did you get that DNA from?”

“Oh? THIS?! This was from back in Red Alert! See, there was this underground ring of guys supplying weapons to mavericks- thousands of Zenny being tossed around. We wrote one of them off as just being a trophy wife but it turned out she was their ring leader. And now the only thing left of her is the DNA I have.”

“That’s-”

Before X could express how unsettled he was the DJ from the stage suddenly exclaimed from the stage-

“This next song is for all you happy little workers out there!” the crowd screamed, X cringed and put his ears over his audio receptors while Axl’s voice joined the crowd. 

The song that was played begun strangely- an electronic beat with laser sound effects, and then a high whining melody over the beat, like an alien singing. Then a lower-pitched melody was strung over. It was highly repetitive, going-

Dun dun dun dada dun dun dun da dun dun dun dada dun dun dun. 

Then picking up in tempo before repeating the same chord over again. 

The energy in the crowd peaked and people in the crowd let loose dancing, gathering and collecting closer to the stage while other groups stuck close to the bar on the side or in their conversations. 

“Hey there hottie~”

X looked to see Axl- disguised being flirted with- one of their own?! It seems that the maverick hunter was a low rank, probably didn’t have high enough pay to afford clothing to better blend in, still wearing armor with the insignia on the chest. 

Axl giggled and flaunted her long hair, taking the arm of the reploid and scuttled down to the dancefloor. X was about to protest but got a message. He paused to read it. 

“I’m heading down in the heart of everything. People are less cautious when they’re in big crowds, they think they’re less likely to be noticed.”  
“Also this guy is a creep, he keeps touching my butt. <.< Newsflash dude our ports aren’t compatible. -.-”

X sent one back,  
“I’ll give him a stern talking to when we get back. Try to get his name.”

“Copy that! Keep your eyes peeled!”

Glancing around, X took in his surroundings.

Firstly, he had to wonder if the place had once been a warehouse. The room above was lights dangling by seemingly threads, vents, and pipes visible. The floors were concrete, and he suspected the walls were too. As he passed by, a reploid with synthetic hair smoothed and gelled to be spiky gave him a look and scoffed, 

“Nice outfit.”

Rude. Axl had a point overall, he stood out. But then again if he had gotten something, it would be an outfit for one-time use and better Zenny could be spent on used books or more fertilizer for his plants.

He sighed, he’d never been to a club and now that the had he couldn’t see the fuss. If only he would be at headquarters, likely working but if he wasn’t, Zero would hang out with him. He’d read his book- (He was partial to non-fiction but right now it was “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” about a china rabbit) Zero would leave to do training for a bit, come back, and the pair would sit in comfortable silence. Occasionally leaned against another, close enough X could hear the whirrs coming from his vents, and despite how hard he was Zero was an excellent pillow-

He shook his head, ‘not now’ he told himself. 

He had bigger fish to fry. But then again, when wasn't he? Any maverick activity was serious. He didn't want Sigma OR Lumine to come back-

“And now for the moment, you’ve all been waiting for! You know ‘em! You love ‘em! The only Reploid band there is- ATOMIC WISHES!!!”

The crowd screams, the DJ left and the table was descended from the stage. After a few moments, the band rose slowly from out and under the stage, and the crowd burst into cheers.

“Are you ready to ROCK?!”

Atomic Wishes was as the DJ said the only reploid-based band in existence. Humans didn’t like them very much, he’s read a few opinion pieces online how their synthetic voices lacked real “art” and their instrument playing had no “soul.”  
X wasn’t exactly a music nerd, and had no experience with anything musical and was only fond of classical. He understood the opinion pieces on how some things lacked “soul” but he found it to be overly harsh still. Then again, it could be justified. He’s never listened to any of their songs, but wished that he didn’t have the chance to just this moment. The screaming was driving him nuts and in his haste, he’s not paying attention to his surroundings and bumping into people like a ping-pong ball.  
“WE ARE! ATOMIC WISHES!” X redirected his attention to the stage. The lead singer, it appears, is standing, beaming to the crowd behind “futuristic” sunglasses. His hair styled spiky, with blonde frosted tips, and an obscene jacket that sparkled like a disco ball.

“ONE! TWO! ONE TWO THREE!”

The fast-beat tempo picks up straight away, the guitarist and bassist going ham over the instruments, and the drummer going wild, hitting the drums like they were on fire, cymbals crashing. The crowd goes wild and the dancing reflects the fast-paced beat with everyone waving their bodies and thrashing about crazily.

“Every day you’re out their work-ing! Aren’t you tired to be ouuut there? All those humans-”

“Whine!”

The crowd goes wild and screams “Yeah!”

“Complain!”

“YEAH!”

“Don’t we deserve be-tter don’t see them working so hard-”

“YEAH!”

“Every!”

“YEAH!”

“Day!”

X was dumbfounded, why was such a pro-maverick song being cheered and celebrated on? Shouldn’t they all be crying out of how easily everyone here could be labeled as a maverick and be scrapped? He’s putting the lives of everyone in here in danger! Of course, we work hard! It’s what we were built to do!

The instrument break started, the lead guitarist- an animaloid designed to look like a lion, rocked out, it’s mane waving back and forth as the tempo picked up speed, then slowed, and picked up again for the next verse.

“We have feelings to you know- don’t you care and don’t you cry-”

“We’ll handle it!”

“YEAH!”

“ON OUR OWN!”

“YEAH!”

“AS REPLOOOOOOOOOOI-” as he hit the high note, the band reared for the climax of the song, and the crowd, fists ready to pump the air for one final yeah-

The lights went off and the music stopped. Murmurs went over the crowd and worried yells and asking what was going on. Then-

BOOM! A loud explosion rang through the building and all of their cores. Dread and worried immediately spiked and his gaze wavered to the outside. Shrieking filled the club.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“No, wait! Look outside! It’s pitch black!”

X gasped, staring out the windows. They were right, it was a pure blackout across the entire city. Cries and clamorings to know what was happening escalated, but then the booming voice, a female, soft and feminine, yet demanding and confident. Through the very same sound systems hunters used to announce maverick attacks.

“Citizens of Abel City! Throughout our years, time and time again, us Reploids have gotten the short stick of life! The humans demand we work, we are designed for our one purpose no matter how inconvenient it becomes to achieve our dreams! They take away our rights, we are not allowed to brawl and fight to test our strengths! We work longer hours and get below the minimum wage! Anyone who speaks against such a broken and unfair system is labeled a maverick, simply for daring to think of a world where they are equal- yes! EQUAL! To humans! Humans, who selfishly order maverick hunters to exterminate their own kind for their convenience and refuse to get to the heart of the issue! 

“The truth is, it is because Reploids deserve a break! We are above the level in terms of mental and physical capabilities in every way, and yet we are still treated as if a nuisance, a lower class! Your economy, your job supply, you all depend on us! We need mental help! When someone is struggling, when someone is depressed and questioning themselves, and showing the beginning signs of maverickism, you should not scrap them! Then they won’t seek help from others out of fear and they will lash out when put under stress! The solution is to put more work into understanding us! But you don’t want to do that now do you? That is why you have ravaged this land! Why you created the Jakob Project, and seek a new planet beyond the stars! But you couldn’t handle that either? You had to send Maverick Hunter X-”

X felt a pointed stab at him through his core.

“-Your little savior, to pick up the pieces? Well, I’ve had it! This power outage is no mistake! Now workers in the power plants are on strike! And in a day and age where you all depend on electricity like water, perhaps now you will finally understand us! Perhaps soon we will finally break free!”

“We have a list of demands, so all humans pay attention. One!-¨

¨This is crazy!

¨Shut up!¨

“Minimum wage! We deserve the money to spend how we like! We have hobbies too!  
Two! Holidays and mental health days to take off!  
Three!-¨

Murmurs from the crowd around them were beginning to make her difficult to hear.

“Are you hearing this shit? Like if any of this is going to happen-”

“Shhhh!”

“-but to own property and apartments it is crucial to achieve the goal of minimum wage! Four! We would like to be able to get seats in the government! We would like to have a say in how our country and towns are run!  
Five! Specialists in reploid mental health to prevent the spread of mavericks!  
"Six! Full body autonomy! Nothing should be changed about our bodies unless we say so! Time and time again you mess with the wings and parts of us reploids and we suffer the consequences!"

“And finally, to be on equal standing as humans! That is our end goal! We have no ill will to you! You are our Gods, you are our creators! But we have our thoughts our own feelings- it is what we were designed for! So if you are going to treat us as we have the working capabilities as humans, we deserve the same rights! If you disregard us, if you laugh at us, and call us mavericks, we will rightfully claim is so! If mavericks are irregular than yes, we ARE Maverick! All who stand with us- all who believe in our cause, we must fight! We must protest! Do not be violent! If you become violent that will only feed the humans more reasons to deny us! So if you believe in our cause refuse to work! Don’t give them not even a second of their time because they have not earned it! For us to truly be equal we must not settle!”

A beat.

“Signing out!”

There was a pause of silence, and the lights flickered on. There were grumbling around the crowd, the band on stage looking confused and disheveled, and the mood of the crowd was dead.

The lead singer tapped on his mic, “Did y’all here that? Ain’t that what we were just singing about? We wanna be free too right! And I mean truly free- not just free from programming. In the age of new reploids n’ crap, we gotta do something so us old-timers ain’t replaced!”

There were a few murmurs and whoops.

“We are reploids! We gotta- we work hard but deserve better! Everyone! We deserve better!”

“WE DESERVE BETTER!”

Oh no.

X shoved his way through the crowd to force himself on the stage, people gave him dirty looks but he couldn’t care less, he needed to stop this.

“WE DESERVE BETTER!” The singer screamed.

“WE DESERVE BETTER!”

And that’s when all hell broke loose. Shoving and screaming, smashing of energy cans and raiding the bar, destroying furniture into scraps of wood and metal.

The band looked around like they weren’t expecting this.

“Uh, guys didn’t you hear her say-”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” the band looked at X like he was crazy (and he sure did feel crazy!) “Why would you encourage that?! This is- all of this is Maverickism! All of you need to come to the headquarters for-”

A message popped into his messaging frame. 

“FIRE!!!”

Of course.

He took the microphone from the singer's hand with a squeal and yelled- 

“THERE IS A FIRE IN THE BUILDING! ALL OF YOU- EVACUATE!”

“Fire?”

“FIRE!”

“FIRE?!”

The reploids in the building stormed out instantly, and before he could apprehend any of the band members, they fled off the stage as well.

Of course.

And standing from the outside, of the smoldering building, no one in sight to put it out, X knew he was in for a very, very long report. 

“Damn.” he turned to Axl, who was still in the same form as a woman. “I didn’t even get to pull my guns out. I wanted to see their faces as they realized I’m not just a pretty design.”

After a moment, his appearance wavered and turned back to the plucky spiky-haired reploid he was most familiar with.  
“Well I suppose that's for another day. Whatcha thinking about X?”

“...I don’t know what to think. Are these reploids really looking for the same rights as humans are do they just masquerading, pretending to not be mavericks?”

“Dunno, they sound maverick to me. I don’t get what they mean by equal rights, sounds way above my paygrade. But she did tell them not to get violent…”

“But they did anyway.”

“I guess that's true too… “ Axl shrugged, “I dunno X. I never thought about it, I've always been trapped in this small little bubble, I really don't get out to see other reploids. Work to hard for it. But like, I never thought that anyone would feel that way, that we deserve better.”

“And what did she mean I’m there to pick up the pieces…?” X murmured to himself. “Of course I do… that’s what a Maverick Hunter does…”

“Don’t over think it too much. I think she’s talking about how you and Zero always were out there to defeat Sigma.”

“...Is this what Lumine was talking about?”

“You’re still going on about him? Come on, that was a over a year now, he’s just a crackhead. You know that.”

“It’s easy to write him off as such… but he said the world was going to be changing. Perhaps if he had succeeded… he would’ve already been on the track of equality…”

“Equality? Don’t be ridiculous. It would’ve been a dictatorship.”

"Maybe. But we slaughtered him. So now we´ll never know..."

Axl rolled his eyes, "Good lord X…”

"Maybe we really were in the wrong… Maybe, it was like Lumine said, there is no black and white-”

"For crying out loud X the guy has the same ideals as Sigma! Does that really sound like the most rational guy?"

"Well… Well no-"

"See?"

"But what he said about new-age going maverick at their will… Perhaps this is what is happening..."

He shrugged, "Regardless of what's happening or not, we can do all that much now can we eh? Gotta keep going forward!"

"Yeah… Yeah thats right. Thanks Axl."

He blinked in shock, "hehe, you’re welcome. Let’s had back already I need to recharge-”

"Actually we need to write a report."

"Boo. What do you think Zero’s reaction would be if I waltzed in lookin’ all sexy?"

X stifled a laugh, "I don't recommend doing that."

Although, regardless of what Axl insisted, he still worried. 

Equality… He’s defended the humans and was planning to do so until his eventual retirement, but to think…. Could they have prevented this? Is it really their fault…?

He shakes his head. _‘Don’t be ridiculous. It’s Sigma, it’s always been Sigma.’_

But Sigma is dead isn’t he? And Lumine…

_‘He’s just a crackhead.’_

Is he?


	2. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting

Instead of doing his job, X had spent most of the morning combing through threads on internet forums instead of answering the copious amounts of emails being forwarded, now reaching a peak at ~100 but he ignored in favor of reading posts in the Abel City forum.

The topic was of course around last night’s transmissions. People from various usernames and anime profile pictures talked amongst each other, quoting last night’s words and linking videos to those who posted them online and sharing their thoughts.

There were three different sides to the boards, humans, reploids, and mixed. It was organized this way as reploids wanted sometimes to talk amongst each other, the same with humans and sometimes they wanted to read each other’s thoughts.

X’s username on www.rephum/forums/AbelCity (Rephum was the name of the site) was “Ecksu.” Not very creative no, but he liked how people from other districts pronounced his name, hence the inspiration. His profile picture was a picture he took of a fern on his desk.

The human forums were discussing how giving reploids minimum wage isn’t viable for the economy and would likely lead to a collapse. X wasn’t an expert in economics but he didn’t see how it could lead to a collapse. Perhaps there would be a flux of inflation, and maybe prices on products would increase, but he thinks it could be viable. I mean, the difference in jumps between little pay and minimum wage really isn’t that high is it?

Perhaps he should read up about it, to be more well-informed. He could see the concern for small businesses but to say a collapse is ridiculous. 

Humans seemed to be in agreement that, owning property, owning seats in government were bad things, if a reploid in power went maverick, the results could be catastrophic (which he couldn’t disagree with…) but on the side of reploids, they were pretty split. Reploids chiming in to say that it was clear maverickism with others voicing their opinions on how this “equal rights” movement was a reflection of past historic movements and thus was valid.

“You don’t see anyone of them calling any of them ‘maverick’ do ya?”

Ecksu couldn’t help himself and commented, “Well yes but do you remember what happened to repliforce?”

That seemingly innocuous comment rocketed the thread into another state of being.

“Lol repliforce had the right idea- with them in charge we’d have enough money to buy more than just energy.”

“I was always pro-repliforce, fucking maverick hunters.”

“More like bootlickers lol.”

“>Boot lickers  
XDDDDDDD killed me, man.”

“Repliforce had the right idea about declaring their independence from humans; if it weren’t for fucking X and Zero…”

“Did you just forget that Repliforce tried to declare war on all the humans and kill them? That sounds like genocide, how is that any better than Sigma idiot?”

X had the same sentiments but would have phrased a little nicer.

“Yeah, Repliforce was just a bunch of fascists, how are these guys different? Maybe this whole “equal rights” thing is just an excuse to try and get Sigma back.”

“I can’t take this fucking shit anymore! We’re too scared to even fight against the humans or else we're labeled as maverick! This shit is unfair and you know it!"

"Well there's nothing we can do, it's life."

X frowned. He didn't like that a bit.

He didn't bother looking onto the mixed thread, and he couldn't, it had been locked by the moderators. 

He heard the door open behind him with a swoosh and closed off what he was doing. Be didn't need to ask who it was as there was only one other person who knew the codes to his room. He turned to of course Zero, hands on his hips.

“Good morning Zero.”

“Mornin’ X. Commander asked me to get you, he says you didn’t answer any of his messages.”

To his horror, he does have a few messages from Signas regarding his report last night. “Why didn’t he call me?!”

Zero shrugged. “Beats me, and I didn’t ask.”

“Ah well, thanks for telling me,” he said apologetically. “Oh! By the way, I was busy with my report-”

“Which wasn’t necessary, you could have submitted it the next day.”

“I suppose but with a situation as urgent as this it’s- impervious we take immediate action.” 

Zero regarded him for a moment and narrowed his eyes. “You aren’t thinking about Lumine are you?”

“Urk-” he hit it right on the head. Zero shook his head. 

“This is a coincidence X. Nothing he said holds any water. It’s been months since then and you are the only one being hung-up on him.” He thinks for a moment, glancing up like there’s something there. “...And if there is, I’ll eat my hair.”

X snorted. “Is that you Axl?”

“Damn it you got me.” he grinned (which was spooky to see on Zero) and morphed into the redhead. “You were actually fooled for a bit.”

“How’d you get in?”

“It wasn’t locked.”

Oh.

“Anyway, the commander does want to see all of us, it’s about what to do about the whole stupid ‘inequality’ thing she-bang.” he says this carelessly, shifting his arms behind his head and looking to the ceiling. 

“I figured that’s what it was. I don’t know what else it could be about.”

“Right. So we should go.”

“By the way, your advice, if I could call it that,” X grimaced, “was terrible.”

“Eh, I tried.”

Axl led X to a conference room. The walls were all made of glass so it was painfully easy for anyone passing by to just look in as they walk. The table in the middle was huge, and only Signas who was very, very tall looked comfortable there where everyone else was dwarfed in size. The real Zero gave X a look and a small smile when he entered and X waved back. 

Zero sat next to Signas, Alia next to Zero, Douglas sat across from Zero, Axl across from Alia and X sat next to Axl. He could have sat at the other end or skipped several sets in between him and Axl, but he didn’t want to be too far away. He could see from where he was sitting different hunters very occasionally passing by. He didn’t like how everyone was watching. 

“Alia-”

The blonde gave Signas a salute.

“Douglas-”

The green bot also gave a salute, “Sir!”. 

“Of course we have, Zero, X, Axl, alright, I think that’s enough. I don’t think we need a lifesaver on duty. “

Alia nodded, “I don’t think so either, but I’ll keep notes just in case we need them for later.”

Signas nodded, the light overhead cast directly over them and the brim of his hat only created a shadow over only one of Signas’ eyes. “You all heard the broadcast from last night.”

“Who didn’t?” Zero said. “Can’t believe those mavericks… Masquerading as a bunch of activists so they can get away with their maverick activity.”

“We-ll.” Douglas adjusted the glasses on his face. “It’s too early to figure out if that’s what this is, maverickism that is. It could just be- well I don’t really know, honestly. Equal rights…? I listened to the broadcast but I’m still not really sure what they are getting at…”

“I say it's all just a long and elaborate excuse,” said Zero. This whole ‘equal rights-’” he said this with quotations, “Is ridiculous. They aren’t at all serious about this.”

“Well, it’s too early to tell-” Zero interrupted Douglas.

“If that was true someone would have said something earlier. “ he replied stubbornly. “I refuse to even consider the idea of this being legit. Mavericks just create more excuses to act out and be maverick.”

“Well-” X interjected and everyone looked at him, Alia did as well, although her fingers never stopped dancing over the virtual keyboard. 

Zero frowned. “Of course. You aren’t serious are you X?”

“Well, I was reading the forums this morning, and, one user had a fair point. That even if someone had spoken up earlier, they would have been labeled mavericks anyway. And well, I don’t really know how I feel.” he confessed. “Last night I was horrified, because everyone in the nightclub was agreeing and, all I could think about was how everyone was acting maverick. But… Some of their demands aren’t well… Awful. Asking for minimum wage and a stake in owning property aren’t exactly things maverick ask for? And they aren’t calling for the genocide of humans they're asking for equality, and equality doesn’t mean standing above, it means standing together.”

There was a very pregnant pause, Signas was in deep thought, leaning his hand onto his chin. Alia was frowning, typing much slower than before, Zero had a sharp look in his eyes, like he usually had when he was busy thinking about something. 

Douglas was the one to chime in again. “Well, maybe but that’s assuming their operations are legit.”

“That’s right X,” said Alia. “they could be seeking to cause chaos, and want nothing to do with this equal rights movement at all. But until we have something to prove otherwise-”

“We shouldn’t just judge them as maverick right away!” X yelled. Signas put a hand up and he fell silent.

“I agree. Alia, can you and the other navigators get busy tracking down the location of the transmission, do you have the person's voice on file?”

“Yes. We’ve already gotten to work cross referencing voices in our database, however it appears to be a common model type, who was speaking last night. “

“Which kind?”

“An X-J9.”

X-J’s were a line of housekeeping reploids, usually used in home and professional environments. X-J9 being the most recent model and technically the 10th in the series, as the first one was X-J0. They were usually designed to be as adrogenous as possible, the first series usually having female characteristics with a male voice and hair, but as it went on, it became more impossible to distinguish. The newest series insisted by pronounces “they” but some instead took on “he” or “she.” In any case, they usually had the same voices and didn’t look too different unless specified when ordering them.

Now X was thinking about it, it was kinda messed up they didn’t get proper payment as they had less choice in their jobs than most reploids when activated, and there was usually no testing to determine a list of choices for them to choose from (only reploids built by individual creators could chose not to work or decide for themselves). They knew only how to clean, and were built tall enough to reach and dust off the highest shelves, and with enough strength to carry trash and lift furniture. 

They reminded X of the Lifesavers. Lifesavers only knew how to stabilize and repair reploids, bulky and heavy with a lot of manpower for lifting large reploids and prying parts from their bodies. But unlike Lifesavers, they have a more unique human feel to them, as without the need of body armor, they were covered with synthetic skin instead of a body suit.

“I see, so it would be nearly impossible to tell which one it was…” Signas mused. 

“That also means that the XJ in question could still be working out there, someplace. Perhaps this is all done behind the backs of whoever hired them… Maybe, they are out there right now, cleaning somebody’s office as we speak.”

Axl popped back in, “You know what would be crazy?! Their human was behind it all along- whoever hired them, and told them to make that broadcast.”

“That would be crazy.” Alia agreed.

“Too crazy.” murmured Zero.

“But we’re all ignoring something important here,” seethed Douglas, “They also were able to broadcast using the same equipment as us. They also were able to cut the lights. They claimed the use of a coup d'etat, but we already visited the energy plant and they were as dumbfounded as us. They have no involvement at all.”

Signas sighed and stood, turning away from the group. “It appears we’ve hit a dead end then. We may have to scale back and wait for something new to happen. We can’t interview every XJ-9, and the power plant is useless.”

“So we just sit here?” Zero crossed his arms around his chest.

“No, of course not. But perhaps we should track down the people that use the Rephum website and investigate any who support them.”

“I don’t believe we need to go that extreme, Commander.” said X.

“We can’t take chances. We need to find out if this is an honest political movement or not.”

Alia suddenly jolted up. “Sir, there’s a news report on the incident broadcasting right now.”

“Axl, turn on that switch there.”

“On it!”

He pressed a button, a panel in the wall shifted and a TV screen popped out. It flickered on and, very conveniently already had it on. The reporter was a female human, and the assistant, a reploid male (very rare for TV). The human had a sticky bob of brown hair and too much dark-purple eyeshadow, while the reploid has curly red hair, thick on his head, with a few ocean-themed pins like shells and starfish keeping it in place, his eye lids colored green to match his eyes. Only thing that made it obvious that the reploid was a male was the reporters' referral to him as such. His gloved hands sat folded onto the table, while her’s were nowhere to be seen.

“-Last nights unexpected broadcast has invoked protests and rage amongst groups of reploids, especially those who actively participate in the nightclub R-E-V-O. A nightclub designed for reploids that showcases reploid talent and specializes in D.F. Energy drinks- that studies show to impede reploid functions but reploids claim give a buzz much like traditional alcohol. Oceanius, take it from here.” She gave him an expectant look. The reploid, apparently named Oceanius nodded and continued.

“The protests have been over the… mistreatment of reploids. And they demand equal rights and equal opportunities to wealth, property, rights to government, and etc. There has been much discourse, on, er, online about the legitimacy of such… Protests, and whenever they are maverick activity.”

“As a reploid yourself, how do you feel about these protests?” The reporter asks.

“...Well… Things are kind of… Hard for me sometimes…” he says slowly. “A lot of the times I’m mistaken for the one who runs the coffee errands and-”

She laughs, a too broad smile on her face. “Coffee boy? Hilarious,'' Her gums are thick when she smiles, an image of a horse flashes through X’s mind and he chides himself.

“But do you think these are mavericks or they are legit?”

“I can’t say but…it would be nice to get paid more-”

“Of course we all think that. Haha. Now to our investigator out on the field, Atom. Take it away Atom!”

Another news reporter, another human, wearing thick shades and his hair styled in a small pompadour smiles, “Thanks Karen. Now, we see here behind me-”

The noise in the background becomes more apparent, as they moved closer to the protest, several animaloid and humanoids clear. “We can see from here that they demand uh, equal rights on their signs.” he points to a sign that reads. “Equal rights equal fights!” 

“But it is to early to judge whenever they are maverick-”

“Hey!” A large animaloid in the style of a jaguar, it’s metallic ears twitching appeared next to him and took up most of the camera space. Over bearing with the loud pattern on his mechanical fur and intense eyes. “All you reploids out there- they’re labeling us as mavericks to silence us! They are afraid of change and want us to be okay with the status quo! Don’t let them take away your voice like that! All you reploids- if you want something to change you gotta be the voice to do it!”

“Er, sure. Now er, run along now trying to do a show here-”

“Don’t be treating me like a cub!” The jaguar exclaimed, “I know what we’re doing! There isn’t some nonsense a buncha new-age reploids are-” there was a shrill noise, signaling a censor, “and not a bunch of maverick- '' another censor was added. “This is our life! If we’re so advanced and human-like, we can handle a few responsibilities don’t you think?!”

“But you aren’t human, you see.”

The Jaguar looked so offended he was speechless. 

The broadcast cut him off before he could respond and the big-gummed lady was alone without the reploid. “Thanks, Atom. That sure was… informative now wasn’t it? Whatever is happening out there I’m sure the maverick hunters can handle it. Up next is-”

Alia shut the TV off and it went back into the panel in the wall. The room was utterly speechless and still staring at the spot on the wall like it was still there.

“Wow. That was…”

“Awful.” Zero finished.

Axl nodded mutely.

X felt even more conflicted than before. What side was he on now? The humans were treating them a little passive-aggressively, but he’s been fighting these wars for their safety. He caught Zero’s gaze. 

...And for Zero too, but he wanted reploids to live in harmonious peace, that was his true end goal. Would reploids be able to do that as equals, or would they have to be able to deal with this as…

Well, he could admit that reploids were treated a little poorly, but their concerns weren't valid, until the question of “is this a valid protest.” was answered.

But! Said his processors. Even if it wasn’t, isn’t this a noble cause? 

Noble…? The equality of reploid-kind is noble… Argh, he kept going back and forth. Is this maverickism or not? Was this a worthy fight to be had or not?

“This meeting is done for now,” said Signas. “We should go on with our daily work lives, Alia, if you or any of the navigators find anything, let me know.”

“Yes sir!” she gave a salute.

“Ugh, I’m exhausted…” Axl stretched, “my joints are sore from being bored that whole time in the meeting.”

“All you did was sit around though.”

“I mean- yeah maybe but I need to stretch. Oi, Zero you up for some sparring?”

“You wanna be sent to the medic ward? If you want that you don’t need me to spar, you can ask anyone for that.”

“You’re such a dick!” he laughed. “Fine then, I’ll ask someone else. You down X?”

X shakes his head. “I got behind on my work this morning, I should get started on that.”

“Boo. You guys are lame.” he turns, waving as he walked, “See ya then!”

He watched until the spikes of the top of his head were gone and turned to Zero.

“...Do you really believe that…”

Zero sighed. “I don’t know what to believe. It’s awfully… convenient.”

“Convenient how?”

He paused. “I’m just not sure X… But my instincts aren’t liking this.”

X nodded. “I see…”

“X…”

“It’s fine Zero. I’m fine.”

“You haven’t really been fine since the fight against Lumine. “

“It really shook me up is all.”

X opened his mouth but Alia flew down the hall.

“Woah, Alia where’s the fire.”

She gasped, “The R.E.V.O. Nightclub- the one you were investigating-”

“Yes?”

“It’s burnt down to the ground.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, idk if I'll continue this further, but here's a snippet just in case

**Author's Note:**

> Music references: The first song is based off a remix of the tune that plays in "Splatoon 2" in the salmon run lobby "Happy Little Workers." Listening to the song makes me think of a nightclub.  
> The second song is based off "Now or Never!" from the first splatoon game.  
> Axl's disguise is based off "Nyotengu" from the Dead or Alive franchise.  
> For a better idea of the nightclub fashions, see the fashion website "Tunnel Vision" and the barbie doll "Magic Earring Ken" (the one that's gay)  
> And yeah the club is a reference to that youtube channel.


End file.
